Iceland has seen its Christmas advert blocked from TV screens for being too political.

The commercial, voiced by actress Emma Thompson and originally produced by Greenpeace, features a cartoon orangutan and highlights the plight of the rainforest.

Clearcast, the body which approves or rejects adverts for broadcast on television and video on demand, said it was "concerned" that the commercial "doesn't comply" with legislation on political advertising.

It added that Greenpeace had "not yet been able to demonstrate compliance in this area".

Since Iceland posted the "banned" video online it has since received thousands of shares on social media, which is not regulated in the same way.

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Iceland, in an email to customers today, told shoppers: "Our Christmas TV advert has been banned.

"As an Iceland customer, you’re probably aware we committed to removing palm oil from our own label food range by the end of 2018.

"We decided to do something different with our Christmas advert this year and continue to raise awareness of rainforest destruction caused by palm oil production, and its devastating impact on the critically endangered orangutan.

"However, it has been ruled our advert is not allowed to appear on TV alongside other supermarkets on the grounds of political advertising.

"You can watch our advert across our social media channels and on our website iceland.co.uk/environment and see why we want to offer our customers a Rang-Tan friendly Christmas - without palm oil."

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The company tweeted: "You won't see our Christmas advert on TV this year, because it was banned. But we want to share Rang-tan's story with you... Will you help us share the story?"

The advert focuses on the impact of palm oil on deforestation, and follows the supermarket's decision to remove the product from all its own-label food by the end of 2018.

Greenpeace said the commercial was not originally intended for television, but neither they or Clearcast were able to immediately confirm whether it had been previously submitted for broadcast clearance.

Iceland said it had spent £500,000 on putting its campaign together and insisted it had booked a number of prime-time TV slots with the full intention of having it cleared to air over Christmas.

Richard Walker, managing director at Iceland, said: "Whilst our advert sadly never made it to TV screens, we are hopeful that consumers will take to social media to view the film, which raises awareness of an important global issue."